Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-03-17
EAps DEAD.
Pneumonia Fatally Attacks the Great En
gineer.

fneomonLA Fatally Attacks the Great En-
gineer.
ST. LOUIS, March ia telegram was re-
ceived here late yesterday afternoon, an
nouncing the death Of Captain James B.
Eads, winch occurred at Nassau, New
Providence, Bahama Islands, March s, the
cause Of death being pneumonia The last
news received from Captain Eads by his
family IN St Louis was a telegram on Tues
day from Mr.. Karner, his agent in New
York, saying that he had received a letter,
which must have left Nassau on the 5th,
and that Mr.. Eads was dangerously Ill with
congestion Of the lungs Although he was
In delicate health, no such fatal termination
was anticipated by his family here. It is
impossible to get any further particulars
relative to the death OF Captain Eads- The
dispatch chronicling the fact was received
from NASSAU by the steamer Lizzie Hender-
son. There is no telegraphice com
munication with Nassau, and no one on
board the vessel which brought the intelli-
gence knows any thing about the matter.
BIOGRAPHICAL
James B. Eads was born in Lawrence
burg, Ind, May %, 1920. His early educa-
ton was limited, as reverses soon forced
him to leave school to assist in supporting
the family. When he was only eight years
of age he became interested in machinery,
and before he was twelve years of age he
and a patent lever watch, and he was then
provided with small workshop, in which
he made all manner OF small mechanical
contrivances. When he was thirteen years
of age his father removed TO ST.
Louis. On the way all the family
possessions were destroyed by fire,
and the boy became a street peddler
of oranges. In the winter of that year he
built a locomotive, which was run by a ram
tied by the tail on a treadmill in the interior.
After short time young Eads obtained
position with a firm the senior partner of
which-Barret Wllliams-discovered his
mechanical tastes and gave him free access
to his library. After year or two he went
on steamboat as clerk and remained two
years, during which period he obtained
valuable fund OF information concerning the
river.
In 1912 Mr.. Eads entered into partnership
with Case & Nelson, boat builders. for the
purpose OF recovering steamboats, and car
goes which had been wrecked. At first the
operations of the firm were limited, their
machinery and appliances being very prim-
tive and quite inadequate to the work they
undertook TO perform. Such were the
energy, versatility and industry of Mr.
Eads, however, that the business rapidly
expanded, until in the space of about ten
years the FIRMS property had increased to
half million dollars in value. In the
meantime Mr.. Eads had established fac
tory at st. Louis for the manufacture of
glassware. The business did not prove re-
muneratlve and he returned to the wreck.
ing business. In 1876 he submitted to
Congress proposition ID keep the Western
rivers open for a term of years by remov.
ing all distractions and keeping the chan.
nels free. The bill embodying his proposal
passed the House but was defeated in the
Senate. He retired from active business in
1857 on account of ill-health.
During the war he took ground against
the levying of contributions on Southern
sympathiZers, and headed a movement to
raise fund to take the place of that which
the military authorities had determined to
exact from the friends of the Confederacy
in st. Louis. Mr.. Eads received a contract
for building the first seven vessels of the
Mississippi gunboat hotlla and he con-
structed the first ironclad in America
From the close of the war to the time of
the construction OF the great st. Louis
bridge Mr. Eads was engaged in no great
public works. Upon that bridge his fame
as an engineer was firmly established. The
bridge project was first conceived in 1899
In 1879 Mr.. Eads began the construction of
a system of jetties for increasing the depth
of the water at the mouth of the Mississippi
under contract with the Government. His
plans, when proposed, were secuted by
prominent engineers. but proved eminently
successful. He secured depth of water
which allows the largest ocean vessels tc
sail in the river and unload their cargoes at
New Orleans.
Mr.. Eads' latest and greatest project was
the building OF ship railway at Tehuante-
pee.